83R22066 E
 
  By: Keffer, King of Zavala H.B. No. 2300
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to funding and donations for county transportation
  projects, including projects of county energy transportation
  reinvestment zones.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 222, Transportation Code,
  is amended by adding Sections 222.1071 and 222.1072 to read as
  follows:
         Sec. 222.1071.  COUNTY ENERGY TRANSPORTATION REINVESTMENT
  ZONES. (a) A county shall determine the amount of the tax
  increment for a county energy transportation reinvestment zone in
  the same manner the county would determine the tax increment as
  provided in Section 222.107(a) for a county transportation
  reinvestment zone.
         (b)  A county, after determining that an area is affected by
  oil and gas exploration and production activities, by order or
  resolution of the commissioners court:
               (1)  may designate a contiguous geographic area in the
  jurisdiction of the county to be a county energy transportation
  reinvestment zone to promote one or more specified transportation
  projects located in the zone; and
               (2)  may jointly administer a county energy
  transportation reinvestment zone in conjunction with another
  county or counties, as provided by Subsection (o).
         (c)  A commissioners court must comply with all applicable
  laws in the application of this chapter.
         (d)  Not later than the 30th day before the date a
  commissioners court proposes to designate an area as a county
  energy transportation reinvestment zone under this section, the
  commissioners court must hold a public hearing on the creation of
  the zone and its benefits to the county and to property in the
  proposed zone.  At the hearing an interested person may speak for or
  against the designation of the zone, its boundaries, the joint
  administration of a zone in another county, or the use of tax
  increment paid into the tax increment account.
         (e)  Not later than the seventh day before the date of the
  hearing, notice of the hearing and the intent to create a zone must
  be published in a newspaper having general circulation in the
  county.
         (f)  The order or resolution designating an area as a county
  energy transportation reinvestment zone must:
               (1)  describe the boundaries of the zone with
  sufficient definiteness to identify with ordinary and reasonable
  certainty the territory included in the zone;
               (2)  provide that the zone takes effect immediately on
  adoption of the order or resolution and that the base year shall be
  the year of passage of the order or resolution or some year in the
  future;
               (3)  assign a name to the zone for identification, with
  the first zone designated by a county designated as "County Energy
  Transportation Reinvestment Zone Number One, (name of county)," and
  subsequently designated zones assigned names in the same form
  numbered consecutively in the order of their designation;
               (4)  establish an ad valorem tax increment account for
  the zone or provide for the establishment of a joint ad valorem tax
  increment account, if applicable; and
               (5)  name the advisory board for the zone or the
  county's members on a joint advisory board, as applicable, as
  provided by Section 222.1072.
         (g)  Compliance with the requirements of this section
  constitutes designation of an area as a county energy
  transportation reinvestment zone without further hearings or other
  procedural requirements.
         (h)  The county may, from taxes collected on property in a
  zone, pay into a tax increment account for the zone or zones an
  amount equal to the tax increment produced by the county less any
  amounts allocated under previous agreements, including agreements
  under Section 381.004, Local Government Code, or Chapter 312, Tax
  Code.
         (i)  Tax increment paid into a tax increment account may not
  be pledged as security for bonded indebtedness.
         (j)  The commissioners court may pledge money in the tax
  increment account:
               (1)  to provide funding for one or more specified
  transportation projects located in the zone; and
               (2)  to a road utility district formed as provided by
  Subsection (k).
         (k)  In the alternative, to assist the county in developing a
  transportation project, if authorized by the commission under
  Chapter 441, a road utility district may be formed under that
  chapter that has the same boundaries as a county energy
  transportation reinvestment zone created under this section. The
  road utility district may issue bonds to pay all or part of the cost
  of a transportation project and may pledge and assign all or a
  specified amount of money in the tax increment account to secure
  those bonds if the county:
               (1)  collects a tax increment; and
               (2)  pledges all or a specified amount of the tax
  increment to the road utility district.
         (l)  A road utility district formed as provided by Subsection
  (k) may enter into an agreement to fund development of a project or
  to repay funds owed to the department.  Any amount paid for this
  purpose is considered to be an operating expense of the
  district.  Any taxes collected by the district that are not paid
  for this purpose may be used for any district purpose.
         (m)  To accommodate changes in the limits of the project for
  which a zone was designated, the boundaries of a zone may be amended
  at any time, except that property may not be added to a zone unless
  the commissioners court of the county complies with Subsections
  (d), (e), and (f).
         (n)  A county energy transportation reinvestment zone
  terminates on December 31 of the 10th year after the year the zone
  was designated, if before that date the county has not used the zone
  for the purpose for which it was designated.
         (o)  The commissioners courts of two or more counties that
  have designated a county energy transportation reinvestment zone
  under this section for the same transportation project or projects
  may enter into an agreement to provide for the joint administration
  of the zones.
         (p)  The commissioners court of a county may enter into an
  agreement with the department to designate a county energy
  transportation reinvestment zone under this section for a specified
  transportation project involving a state highway located in the
  proposed zone.
         Sec. 222.1072.  ADVISORY BOARD OF COUNTY ENERGY
  TRANSPORTATION REINVESTMENT ZONE. (a)  Except as provided by
  Subsection (b), the advisory board of a county energy
  transportation reinvestment zone consists of the following members
  appointed by the county judge and approved by the county
  commissioners court:
               (1)  three oil and gas company representatives who
  perform company activities in the county and are local taxpayers;
  and
               (2)  two public members who are active in civic
  affairs.
         (b)  County energy transportation reinvestment zones that
  are jointly administered are advised by a single joint advisory
  board for the zones.  A joint advisory board under this subsection
  consists of members appointed under Subsection (a) for each zone to
  be jointly administered.
         (c)  An advisory board member may not receive compensation
  for service on the board or reimbursement for expenses incurred in
  performing services as a member.
         SECTION 2.  Section 222.110(e), Transportation Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (e)  The sales and use taxes to be deposited into the tax
  increment account under this section may be disbursed from the
  account only to:
               (1)  pay for projects authorized under Section 222.104,
  including the repayment of amounts owed under an agreement entered
  into under that section; and
               (2)  notwithstanding Sections 321.506 and 323.505, Tax
  Code, satisfy claims of holders of tax increment bonds, notes, or
  other obligations issued or incurred for projects authorized under
  Section 222.104 or 222.1071.
         SECTION 3.  Subchapter A, Chapter 251, Transportation Code,
  is amended by adding Section 251.018 to read as follows:
         Sec. 251.018.  DONATIONS. (a)  A commissioners court may
  accept donations of labor, money, or other property to aid in the
  building or maintaining of roads, culverts, or bridges in the
  county if the commissioners court enters into an agreement of
  release of liability regarding the donations.
         (b)  A county operating under the county road department
  system on September 1, 2013, may use the authority granted under
  this section without holding a new election under Section 252.301.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.